Computing devices are utilized for a variety of purposes. For instance, some computing devices are utilized for accomplishing classified, confidential, or high security tasks. These computing devices can be targets for potential penetration to, for example, access and take over control of the system, remove data, and/or tamper with the data or the system. For instance, computing devices controlling power grids or other infrastructure systems, as well as financial, medical, scientific, military, and/or business systems, may be some of the types of systems that could be potential targets, among others.
Generally, two approaches have been utilized to secure these computing devices. One is the use of one or more firewalls that are designed to identify and reject threats as they attempt to access the secured computing device from an unsecured or lesser secured network. These firewall configurations may be known to the attackers and in some instances can be compromised by them.
A second approach is sometimes referred to as an “air gap” method in which the computing device to be secured is not connected to any lesser secured networks or devices and data can only be accessed by connecting a memory device such as a memory card or hard drive via a wired type of connection. However, these systems can be difficult to be utilized because they are isolated from other networks where information may be present. Further, data and/or files may be transported on these memory devices and transferred to the computing device, in some cases without the knowledge of the individual doing the connecting of the memory device to the computing device.